Dropcam Echo

Simple setup. Wireless, except for power. DVR-like video function. Camera can be moved without the need for resetting network connection. Useful iPhone app.

Cons

Service is a little pricey. Camera doesn't run on batteries (requires AC power). Motion detection is overly sensitive. Audio detection is only useful if the room is typically silent.

Bottom Line

The Dropcam Echo is a highly effective home video surveillance system that stores recorded video and audio in the cloud so you can access it from anywhereincluding your iPhone. Some price adjustments and a bit of work on the motion and sound detection, and it could be a real winner.

In the past, remote home surveillance video has been a nifty idea that was an expensive pipe dream for most people. Though hardware prices have come down, the technology for getting it up and running at home haven't typically been ready for prime time. But that's been changing in recent years. Not long ago we reviewed the Avaak Vue Personal Video Network ($299.99, ). It uses multiple battery operated cameras and military-grade mesh technology to deliver video to a central gateway. And now we have Dropcam, a simple, yet effective home video surveillance system that relies on Wi-Fi and cloud-based services to help you keep an eye on your home. A $199 (direct) Dropcam captures video but not audio. The $279 model I tested, the Dropcam Echo, also records sound.

Design and Setup Unlike Vue, Dropcam comes with just one camera. Inside the box, along with the Dropcam camera, is a long Ethernet cable, an extra mounting bracket—so you can screw the camera to a wall—and a C-clamp to temporarily attach the camera to surfaces where it might otherwise easily fall off.

Setup is painless. I simply plugged the Ethernet cable into the 3.3-ounce, 3.7-by-2.3-by-1.3-inch (HWD) camera, and then plugged the other end of the cable into my home network router. I opened my networked laptop, and pointed my browser to Dropcam's Web site, where I was walked through the subsequent setup steps. I entered the activation code that came on a card in the box and immediately saw a screen with the view from my Dropcam. In the next screen, I named the camera, added a description, and set a time zone. Naming the camera is important because you can have multiple cameras on one network. The company claims the number of cameras is only limited by upload bandwidth speeds. Each camera takes about 150Kbps to capture and stream 320-by-240 QVGA-resolution video.

The Dropcam Echo system uses 802.11b or g Wi-Fi: Once I entered my network name and security code, I could unplug the Dropcam from my router and move it anywhere within reach of my wireless network. After I moved it to a new power outlet (the camera isn't technically fully wireless, as it needs AC power to operate) and then the camera found and synched with my network. I wish Dropcam had battery-power option. The long white power cord can be pretty unsightly when your Dropcam is perched, say, atop a kitchen cabinet, as mine was during testing.

By the way, the rectangular shape of the camera actually made it a it difficult to tip the camera forward enough without hitting the edge of the cabinet on which it was clamped, which meant I couldn't achieve the perfect view of what I wanted to survey. Even so, I got a good enough image of my back door and two rear rooms to be satisfied. You can tell the camera is working by the lights circling its lens. Green means it's recording, and orange or red indicate a connectivity issue. There's also an additional front light that, for now, is only for show. A future firmware upgrade will let users remotely enable the light.

Recording and Remote Playback During the setup process, you also create an account on the Dropcam site. This allows you to log in and view your camera from anywhere in the world. Since Dropcam's service is cloud-based, you're never tunneling into your home network from the outside. The camera talks to Dropcams services, and you access Dropcam's servers from the Web. The cloud-strategy comes in handy in two ways: You can safely share your Webcam view with others without worrying that they can use the access to enter your home network, and Dropcam's service stores hours and hours of captured video on its servers. With a cloud-based solution, you don't have to worry about eating up precious hard drive space. And Dropcam isn't only storing the video—up to 30 days—but you can play it back just like a DVR.

As mentioned earlier, both the Dropcam and Dropcam Echo offer motion detection; the Echo adds audio detection. You can set up the camera to detect and mark motion and audio events, and while I liked being able to hear clear audio playback of what was going on in my home, audio activity detection was somewhat useless. The slightest noise marked the video and when you scrolled back in time to view the activity, there was typically nothing to see.

Motion detection, however, was a different story, and this is where Dropcam bests the Vue Personal Video Network, which lacks motion detection altogether. The Dropcam marks the video timeline with a little yellow dot every time it detects motion. A double click on any dot brings you back to a few seconds before the activity, so you can see what happened. Most of the time I saw a family member in front of the screen, but occasionally Dropcam was fooled by significant and subtle changes in light. The video is, as noted above, 320 by 240 and with adequate lighting, it's not bad. Motion is smooth and colors are accurate. I could easily make out all the detail in a room and see exactly what people were doing. There is, however, no way to zoom in to any part of the screen, though at this low resolution, it might not be that useful anyway. (By the way, my wife eventually told me she didn't appreciate me surreptitiously checking in on the family without calling first.)

Navigating video via Dropcam's Web-based interface is okay, but not great. You can zoom out on the timeline to see all the activity marks for an eight-hour period, but you really can't effectively view any of them unless you zoom in. There are little thumbnails that appear above the activity mark when you scroll over them, but you can't mouse on top of the thumbnails to select the ones that appear to have significant activity. Also, I'd love to be able to mark events (or rename them) so I can find them again later. Dropcam does allow you to select video clips to save and mail out You have to select the date, time and duration, then the service takes about half a day to send the MP4 video to the e-mail address of your choice.

iPhone App and Conclusions Like Vue, Dropcam also offers a free iPhone app. If the camera detects movement or sound, you'll see an alert on your phone's screen, even if it's locked—thanks to push notification. Unlock your phone and you can choose to view live video or the event clip. You can also scroll through thumbnails of all of your captured clips. I used the app throughout my vacation; when I had a strong 3G signal, I had no trouble seeing what was going on. Unfortunately, I got notification after notification for motion events that weren't there. Dropcam execs told me they're working on giving users control over the motion-detection sensitivity.

While you can buy the webcam and watch your home from afar for free, the DVR video service—where the footage is stored on Dropcam's servers—is going to cost you. With events tagged, you can jump back to any moment in time (up to 7 days) and play back that 30-second-or so, snippet. That plan costs $8.94. If you want 30 days of DVR video storage and access, it's $24.95 per month.

The $8.94 package also adds push e-mail and mobile alerts. These costs will quickly add up and don't forget you just dropped almost $200 for the basic Dropcam without audio capture. The Vue Personal Video Network is pricey, too. It'll cost you $300, but you get two cameras. And the $19.95 yearly fee only gets you 2GB of storage on the company's servers. Obviously, a professional home surveillance system can costs hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, so some will see this as a relative bargain. Still, Dropcam may want to consider reducing the cost of the camera and the monthly service—the company will likely attract a lot more customers, including me.

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A 25-year industry veteran and award-winning journalist, Lance Ulanoff is the former Editor in Chief of PCMag.com.
Lance Ulanoff has covered technology since PCs were the size of suitcases, ?on line? meant ?waiting? and CPU speeds were measured in single-digit megahertz. He?s traveled the globe to report on a vast array of consumer and business technology.
While a digital veteran, Lance spent his early years writing for newspapers and magazines. He?s been online since 1996 and ran Web sites for three national publications: HomePC, Windows Magazine...
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